Swedes urged to take ‘sex break’

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Swedes should take a one-hour paid break from work to go home and have sex with their partners, a local councillor suggested in a proposal Tuesday aimed at improving people’s personal relationships.

“There are studies that show sex is healthy,” Per-Erik Muskos, a 42-year-old city councillor for the northern town of Overtornea, told AFP after presenting the motion.

He said couples were not spending enough time with each other in today’s society.

“It’s about having better relationships,” he said.

He noted there was no way to verify that employees do not use their hour for other purposes than spending time with their partners or spouses.

“You can’t guarantee that a worker doesn’t go out for a walk instead,” Muskos said, adding that employers needed to trust their employees.

Muskos said he “saw no reason” why the motion wouldn’t pass.

After the Finns and the French, Swedish full-time employees worked the least in Europe with only 1,685 hours on average in 2015, according to a study by economic research institute Coe-Rexecode.

Brits worked an average of 1,900 hours and Germans 1,847 hours in 2015.